Chapter 3

Hiccup felt as though she was swimming through butter. She hurt in quite a few places and wondered why she hurt so bad. Her eyes slowly cracked open, and instead of seeing the roof or wall of her cottage in Berk she was greeted with the dim-lit belly walls of a ship.

Shooting into a sitting position Hiccup took in her surroundings. It didn't take long for the whole night to come flooding back, and she rubbed her head with her good hand. Her arm had been moderately cleaned, and bandaged up to prevent bleeding.

To her surprise, she wasn't bound, and it took her some time to realize why. Due to the dim light she hadn't been able to see the iron bars surround her. It wasn't unbelievable, Berserkers were known for things like this. Leaving their prisoners in cages until they died, but Hiccup had a feeling she wouldn't be left t die in this cage.

She sat there for what seemed like an hour, trying to stay comfortable and not get sick. The boat rocked back and forth, a steady motion that partially lulled her to sleep but then there was a random jolt that made her stomach flip.

Finally, the door she assumed led up to the deck opened and sunlight poured into the room. Shielding her eyes for a moment Hiccup adjusted her position on the floor. When her stomach growled she wondered if maybe she would be fed.

To her surprise, it was Dagur himself who had come to speak to her, and not one of his soldiers. For the first time it dawned on her that she had absolutely no idea where Toothless was. Was he still on Dragon lsland? Or had Dagur slain him in a fit of rage?

"Are you hungry?" The Berserker's harmless and seemingly innocent question surprised Hiccup. In fact, Dagur had a bit of his crazy happiness back in his emerald green eyes, a very big change from the rage he had held that night.

Hiccup eyed the food warily, before flicking her eyes towards the door. The sun was so bright, a lovely change from the dimness of the belly of the ship. "Where's Toothless?" Was all she asked, ignoring it when her stomach growled some more.

"I'll take that as a yes." Dagur drawled, leaning against the wall of the ship as he took a bite out of the yak leg Hiccup assumed he had brought for her.

"Where's Toothless?" She repeated, not being able to help herself as she watched him eat. He ate quietly, watching the yak leg as if there was something very interesting going on in it.

"Hmmmm... Oh yes, your... Night Fury, is safely tucked away in one of my fastest ships. Headed to the same place you are." Dagur took another bite out of the yak leg, pulling out one of his knives and twirling it in his fingers.

Hiccup sighed, laying her back against the damp iron bars. "And where, might I ask, are we both heading?" Her arm started to hurt again. The ache that was more painful than anything she had ever felt. She would have preferred to feel the pain she had felt when she had lost her leg.

Dagur laughed, as usual it was his long one that continued on for a very, very, long time. "Isn't it obvious Hiccup? I seriously didn't think you were so gullible. My fleet is headed for Berserk. You're going to fulfill you promise. You're going to train me dragons."

8 hours earlier...

Dagur had been so angry with the little scrap of a girl. All she cared about was that... Night Fury. Together they could have made the strongest force in the entire archipelago. No one would have dared to stand up against them, but she had chosen that dragon over him.

After he had lashed out and ripped the bolt out of her arm, she had passed out. At first, he had been slightly scared, he didn't want to hurt her, but then again, that was what she deserved for what she had done to him.

Growling, he tore some fabric off of his tunic and bound her arm in it. Then he turned on the dragon.

It growled at him, baring it's teeth at him when he advanced on it. Oh how he wanted to just stick it with his axe and finish the job. He hated leaving jobs unfinished, but he did need Hiccup to cooperate. And if he killed her dragon, he wouldn't have any blackmail. A disappointing but true fact. She didn't strike him as suicidal but he didn't doubt that she could do it.

Letting out another growl of barely contained rage her used what rope he had with him to make a sled of sorts. After that he had to signal for the group of Berserkers on the beach to come and help him haul the beast to shore. Then he returned for the runt. She was still out cold as far as he could tell, so he slung her over his shoulder and carried her to his best ship. He proceeded to clean her wound and re-wrap it before locking her up in the belly of the ship.

Then he had to help his men secure the Night Fury and inform them that if any of them harmed the beast they would lose their legs or quite possibly something more. Maybe if they didn't take good care of the beast he would shave them. He hadn't specified what that 'something more' was.

After everything was all ready to go he went and told Captain Vorg to set a course to Berserk. Relieving his stress onto his captain was a simple and easy way to get him prepared for sleep, so ignoring the many bruises Hiccup and her dragon had caused him, he slipped into an uneasy sleep.

...

When Dagur woke, he could hear a scuffle starting up on deck and the familiar lap of the waves against the hull of the ship. Breathing a sigh of relief, he leapt out of bed, strapping on his armor before stopping the fight.

He lounged on the deck for a while, not really thinking about the little slip of a girl he had below deck. SHe wasn't really a girl, she was a woman, but it was hard to believe. She didn't have curves like other viking girls. She had them, but they weren't obvious. And the clothes she wore didn't help her cause.

When Vorg finally did come and question him about what they were doing with 'Stoic the Vast's heir', he replied with an easy explanation.

"They were training dragons, and refused to speak truth to me. So when I discovered their, treachery, I decided to take matters into my own hands." Seeing the shocked expression of some of the soldiers around him, he added, "We are Berserkers! We do no not accept lies and let other tribes get away with it. Those tribes will understand that we will not be trifled with."

"But why don't we just kill the dragon?" A dark-haired guard asked.

"Because the girl has promised to train Berserk dragons if we don't harm her dragon. When she has trained us all dragons and shown us how to train them, we will dispose of them both." The words tasted bitter in Dagur's mouth, and he wondered if maybe he had drunken bitter water. His stomach churned and he excused himself to get himself something to eat. Maybe he should feed Hiccup too.

After he had filled up his complaining stomach, he grabbed an extra yak leg and headed down to the belly of the ship. To his delight, Hiccup was wide awake, and looked quite surprised to see him. She probably had forgotten that she had even made the deal with Dagur in the first place.

"Are you hungry?" After he had asked the question her stomach growled quite loudly.

"Where's Toothless?" It didn't surprise him that she was asking about her dragon, it endeared him to her even. Her stomach growled again, louder this time. He could tell that she was trying to ignore the yak leg her had in his hand.

Leaning against the ship's side he smirked at her. "I'll take that as a yes." He didn't want to answer her questions yet, he wanted her to answer his. Looking down at the yak leg in his hand he realized just how good it looked. He took a bite, ignoring Hiccup's rumbling stomach.

"Where's Toothless?" She wasn't giving up was she?

Dagur pretended to be completely uninterested in her question, "Hmmmm... Oh yes, your... Night Fury, is safely tucked away in one of my fastest ships. Headed to the same place you are." He smiled to himself before taking another bite and twirling one of his sharpest knives between his fingers.

He felt a little twinge of something tug at him when he heard her sigh. Her slender neck was fully exposed, her head lolled back against the bars. "And where, might I ask, are we both heading?" She sounded tired, and he could tell by her grimace that her arm was bothering her.

Laughing in utter delight at her childishness Dagur explained where she was going. "Isn't it obvious Hiccup? I seriously didn't think you were so gullible. My fleet is headed for Berserk. You're going to fulfill you promise. You're going to train me dragons."

Her head snapped up, and she gave him one of the most unforgiving glares he had ever received. Then she had turned her face away from him, hand trailing to her arm. It had to hurt, it did hurt obviously. She just didn't want to look weak in front of him. Dagur wanted to take her and get the wound sewn up, but he didn't have a thread or needle to do any sort of sewing. And even if he did he would never lower himself to do that in front of her. He was Dagur the Deranged! He couldn't let the fact that he knew how to sew get around the archipelago just because a girl needed medical attention!

He looked down at the half-eaten yak leg, he didn't want to give her second best. He didn't know how to explain it, he just desperately felt a tug at him whenever she showed how she was truly feeling. What was wrong with him? She was a traitor!

"Are you going to let me starve?" She hissed, words bitter and filled with venom.

"No. You haven't fulfilled your purpose." In a small burst of frustration he thrust the knife into the wooden planks. If she wanted cruel, he could be cruel.

He handed her the half-eaten yak leg, not really caring that he had started eating it. He waited with a cocked eyebrow for her to start eating. "I didn't poison it. I was eating it a second ago."

She sniffed, and wiped tears he hadn't seen away before she took a bite. She was apparently trying to eat slowly, but he could tell she was hungry. Sighing, he left her down there and went up onto the deck.

Luckily no one had really noticed where he had gone, and so he took advantage of the time to sneak away to his quarters.

When he got in there all he could do was plop himself onto his bed and slam his fist into the wall. He really wished he could have a legitimately good reason to hit her. She was stubborn, snarky, and too sarcastic for her own good, but those weren't what most people considered 'legitimate reasons'.

A loud knock on the door woke him from his thoughts. Huffing, he told the person the enter.

It was Vorg, hopefully there to give him some good news.

"Sir. We will be in Berserk in less than five days... but that isn't all." Vorg informed him of their current position, respectfully and all together making his chief bored.

"Yes?"

"The crew wants to know if we should feed the beast."

Dagur chuckled. If he hadn't taken the Night Fury with him, he would've just assumed they were talking about Hiccup. "No. We need it to be contained, we'll feed it when we get to Berserk."

"Yes sir. And the girl?" Vorg asked, cocking an eyebrow in questioning.

Dagur lay back on his cot, missing the furs he had on his bed in Berserk. "I fed her already. But I think the orders for her should be the same as the orders for her dragon. She'll eat fully when we get to Berserk. Until then she will be treated like any other prisoner."

Vorg looked as though he was about to ask Dagur something else, but instead the captain just went back on deck.

Strangely enough... Dagur didn't want to treat her like a prisoner. His stomach churned, and Dagur blamed that on eating far too much.

Hiccup ate the yak leg swiftly after Dagur had left, only slowing down when she began to feel queasy. Figuring that Dagur would probably be keeping her on rations, she put the leftovers of the yak leg on top of a burlap sack in the corner of the cage.

Her eyes slowly grew accustomed to the darkness after being in the light, and she could once again see the blood stains on the wooded floor below her. Wondering if they were her own, she wiped at them.

"Definitely not fresh..." She pulled her hand back. She hadn't been the first person in this cage to bleed... And she probably wouldn't be the last. No doubt the last person in the cage before her was long dead.

feeling her way around the cage, she made her way to the bars closest to where Dagur had been standing. His dagger was still stuck in the wall. He hadn't taken it with him, and had most likely forgotten it. She knew she had made him angry when he drove it into the soft wood, but her plan had worked. He had left her a means of protection.

It took her a while, and by her fourth try of trying to get the blade her arm started to run with blood. She grunted, and pushed against the bars like a caged animal. Finally, her fingers grasped the end of the knife. She pulled and wiggled until it fell with a clatter to the floor.

"Yes!" She couldn't help but smile in triumph against the building pain in her arm. She had the knife withing reaching distance and she quickly pulled it into the cage with her. Once she had a good enough chance, she would use it against whoever was escorting her wherever and then... what?

She would be on Berserk. The one island most well-known for it's ferocity and skill in battle. She didn't stand a chance against them in hand-to-hand combat.

She could try bribery, but that never ended well. Plus, she had already used that to save Toothless. Her body was definitely not as curvy as Astrid's, so she probably wouldn't be very good in the area of sexual appeal.

She groaned, and let her head rest on the bars in front of her. She had just about nothing. Except for a knife and the ability to train dragons. She could try to train a dragon and escape on it, but then she would have to leave Toothless.

An idea popped into Hiccup's head. A very dangerous idea, and she most likely wouldn't be pleased with the results, but she could try.

...

When Dagur finally came back a whole day had passed, and Hiccup had almost nothing left of the yak leg. She was also in a lot of pain, and her stomach was relentless.

"Oh, let me guess... You're hungry?" Dagur had a small sack of food, and after he had taken a roll from inside of it he threw the sack at the bars of the cage.

Hiccup rolled her eyes, pulling the sack into the cage with her slowly. She could act as though she wasn't hungry.

It was agonizing how slow Dagur ate and how carefree he seemed. When he reached for the knife he had unknowingly lost to her yesterday he seemed a little confused, but appeared to shrug it off.

She ate a roll and some of the smoked cod that was in the bottom of the bag. There were two apples left, and a flask of water. She drank some of the water, and left the two apples for later.

"Will you let me and Toothless go after I train dragons for Berserk?" Hiccup asked. She had a feeling that this wasn't her best plan, and she usually didn't go to the problem and ask if the problem would go away, but hopefully she would get an answer.

Dagur striked a fake thinking position, before taking out his axe to sharpen it. "I think not."

"What will you do with us?" Hiccup glared defiantly at the Berserker chief, not caring that he had a staggering array of weapons on his personal.

Dagur kicked a crate over next to the cage before sitting on it, shooting her a look that was a mix between anxious and frustrated. "Kill you."

That was a very simple plan, and Hiccup decided that she would rather Dagur kill Toothless and then she kill herself. She wouldn't train him dragons if she wouldn't live to be able to help her tribe deal with the Berserkers.

"Then I'll just kill myself now." She said, clasping her hands together and placing them in her lap.

"What!?" Dagur looked as though someone had slapped him in the face, and he immediately got up and began pacing. "You can't do that!" He yelled at her, dismissing a curious guard before shutting the hatch door.

"Why not? You'll kill me anyway..." Hiccup paused, rubbing her arm, "You almost did already."

Dagur continued to yell for a minute before using his axe to chop a barrel to pieces.

"Wow. That was violent... and messy. Don't do that again please." She dusted some woodchips off her hair before putting her hand around her arm again. Why would he care if she died?

"It's not fair!" Dagur finally yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "Wait... how would you kill yourself?"

Hiccup considered taking out the knife she had stolen from him and telling him how she had gotten it, but instead she just went with telling him that she'd starve herself.

"You're not strong enough to hold out for that long."

"Okay. Maybe I'm not. I can always dig in the hole you placed in my arm and make myself bleed to death." Very gruesome idea. Hiccup sincerely was glad she could just use the knife to end it quickly.

"I really need to sew that up..." Dagur mumbled, pacing the floor of the ship. He looked at her in a sort of appraising way. "What if I promise not to wage war on your tribe."

"Nice offer. But your promises are worth nothing to me and my tribe now. You should know that." Hiccup had actually been tempted to give in on that one, but she had already been shown in a very painful way how bad he kept promises. "You just nullified a 51 year-old peace treaty between two very powerful tribes."

Dagur glared at her, before sitting down on the crate he had next to the cage. "What can I do to keep you from killing yourself?"

Wow. That had been really easy. It was surprising that it had worked, her threatening suicide to get him to do what she wanted him too. "You can't kill Toothless. You have to bring him back to Berk. And I have to watch you do it... You have to keep to the terms of the peace treaty you made with my father. You can't wage war on Berk." Hiccup stopped, thinking. She had to cover everything. Dagur was smart.

Unlike Alvin the Treacherous, he would plan things out instead of rushing into battle. No matter the fact that Dagur had gone in head-first plenty of times, he still couldn't be trusted.

"Is that all?" Okay. But how do I know you won't try to kill yourself once you dragon is gone?"

Hiccup paused. She hadn't thought about that. She really hadn't been planning on going back on her word, but she could see where Dagur would doubt her on her side of the deal. "Have I ever gone back on my word?"

"You said you hadn't trained dragons you little..." Dagur composed himself, waving his hand as though gesturing to what he had just said. "You've lied before."

"Point taken." She pondered what proof she had that she wouldn't kill herself. He had an excellent point. Once Toothless was freed Dagur wouldn't have anything against her. But her tribe. "If I kill myself I can't ensure my tribe's safety."

"But I'll kill you once you train dragons."

"Are you seriously trying to get me to kill myself right now!?" Hiccup screamed. She was tried, hurting, and he was making her exasperated.

"But... I might not kill you... if you behave."

"I'm not your child." She spat, glaring at him. She calmed herself, she had to make this work.

Dagur laughed, his rampage earlier all but forgotten. "No. You're my prisoner. If you do what I want, tell me what I want to know, and keep yourself from your own suicidal tendencies... I will set your dragon free on Berk under my conditions with you present, not kill you, and keep the peace between our tribes."

Dagur smiled at her, leaning back against the wall of the ship as he waited for her to answer. "Deal?"

Hiccup looked him up and down. Looking for a loophole in his deal he could use against her. Finally, she held out her hand for him to shake. "Deal."

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited this story. And thanks goes to those who just read.

LunetheFenrir: I translated your review to English and I am very thankful for your support. I am also very happy that my story happened to be the first you have read of it's kind and that you liked it. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that you reviewed. Your review is one of the best I have ever gotten. :D Wish I could speak and write in french.

Viking Lady: Your so welcome. I loved how you portrayed Dagur in your story. I like stories like this too, and The Berserker's Bride is one of my favorites. Thank you so much for your support:D

firekitsune2z: Thank you for the reminder lol. Seriously, sometimes I need to be jolted back into life.

KathrynMills: You have so far been a very loyal reader and I'm glad that you have stuck through with me as I slowly write this out.